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Boston Fire Dept. via AP
In this photo released by the Boston Fire Department via Twitter, firemen work to remove injured passengers from a bus that hit a bridge as it traveled along Soldiers Field Road in the Allston neighborhood of Boston on Saturday night.
A charter bus hit an overpass in Boston on Saturday night, injuring 34 people, authorities said.
The bus was returning to Pennsylvania from Harvard University with 42 people on board when it hit an overpass on Soldiers Field Road about 7:30 p.m., the Boston Fire Department said on its Twitter feed.
Boston Emergency Medical Services said on its Twitter feed that 34 people had been injured -- one with life-threatening injuries, three in serious condition and 30 with minor injuries.
It was unclear who the passengers were.
A tweet from Massachusetts State Police described the bus as overheight.
Photos posted on the Fire Department's Twitpic account showed the top of the bus crumpled as firefighters extracted the injured.
The bus from Calvary Coach Bus had originated in Philadelphia. A spokesman for the bus company told The Associated Press he had no immediate information on the crash.
The accident happened at Western Avenue on Soldiers Field Road, which The Associated Press described as a major roadway to the Massachusetts Turnpike that curves along the Charles River and passes by Harvard and Boston University.
Boston Fire Dept. via AP
Firemen work to remove injured passengers from a bus that hit a bridge in Boston.
Leave a Comment:
guess we need to outlaw underpasses
No, we need to outlaw stupidity.
@The Company, It's going to cost A LOT for those prisons, and they will be filled to capacity.
We need to squash spiders. And trolls.
We need to outlaw asinine partisan demagogues and their juvenile comments.
These tour buses are startin' to scare me!
ban buses, they kill! buses kill, not the driver!
all my friends...ride in a low rider...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NkgiFHEm0Y
Amazing how many drivers are so inept at their job that they don't know how tall their vehicle is. i mean really wouldn't you want to know if you were driving it?
The government should regulate GPS systems so that for buses and trucks they wouldn't give a route with low passes. Of course the right wingers would never go for this as it would infringe upon the GPS manufactures 1st Amendment right of freedom of the press.
Someone please explain to me how we can build rolling equipment which doesn't fit under our bridge system in this country. Serious disconnect here . . . Sort of like making a light bulb which doesn't fit into our STANDARD lamp sockets.
So what are we to do? Are we going to cry for yet more government intervention?
Well, spider, I see your satirical point, but there is one problem with your logic.
Underpasses are not designed to kill or injure. Guns are.
"Someone please explain to me how we can build rolling equipment which doesn't fit under our bridge system in this country. Serious disconnect here"
Easy. Standard bridge height is a minimum of sixteen feet. Bridges CAN be built lower than this, but height is supposed to be posted when that is the case. (I have seen cases of bridges as low as 11'6"; our local airport, for example, has a terminal that has a pedestrian bridge to the parking lot at 12'2".) Most semi trucks and coach buses are in the 12-14'6" range so have very limited clearance. City buses are generally around 10'6"-11' and can clear just about anything.
Without knowing all the circumstances, such as the height of the bus, whether the clearance under the bridge was clearly posted, etc., it is pointless to comment.
These types of accidents do occur every so often, usually the incident involves a truck.
That sudden stop can be a bummer.
It seems like the Bus was too tall Or maybe the bridge was too low! haahhahahaha! dumbass bus driver.
This isn't the first time this has happened in this area, but it hasn't happened for quite a while because the local truck/bus drivers know the area and detour if needed. There is signage at the location indicating the low clearance. It's not surprising that the person driving was from out of town - s/he may have missed seeing the sign due to darkness.
Seems to me that speed probably was a factor - limit there is 40 mph but people commonly do 15-20 mph above posted speed - it's a well-known issue in the area. Yet if you're driving a busload of kids on an unfamiliar road, maybe you should just obey posted limits, huh? The damage to the bus and the passengers would not have been as extensive as the pictures show if the bus was traveling at only 40 mph.
No, it is the responsibility of the bus company to ensure that the route used by the bus is safe.
Ban large automotives...
ARE YOU KIDDING???
NEVER!!!
msn just threw this one in here so we dont think they only report gun shootings now.
It's time for your meds!
GM Chefaz,
I miss my 77 "Connie" myself.
GM IA!!!
do you mean like one of these beauties???
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z14479/Lincoln-Continental.aspx
oh, these were such beautiful cars...
Same thing happened with a bus in Florida at the airport. The bus companies hire drivers who...can't speak the language, don;t read the street signs and don't know the area. It will be interesting to hear what the results of the investigation are on this one. The bus company in Florida "had insurance"....How about making it safe for the passengers and not having your first response...."we have insurance". Unfortunately drivers aren't held to the standards they used to be.
Seems as though there is very little today that is held to the standards of previous years.
There are actually tough safety standards required for those who drive commercially.But unfortunately with the millions of people driving on the roads each day, there will still be accidents, though they are totally preventable. What is actually surprising, is there aren't more.Considering what some people will do, to get around having to obey the rules and do the right things to be safe.
Having done a lot of patrolling over 450 square miles of our county, and responding to emergency accidents, I have seen problems with various vehicles colliding with overhead structures. There are several factors that contribute to these problems.Inattention is chief among them first off. With folks just not paying attention, or thinking they can squeak by. Some will even reduce tire pressure to pass under overpasses.
Next is newer vehicles which are taller and not designed for older, lower structures. Commonly found in older parts of cities.Which upgrade roads, but not the overpasses, bridges, train tracks. Followed by vehicles entering places they weren't designed to be going into, in the first place. Like the recent incident of the bus which entered an airport's exiting ramp.
Last, drivers who don't know their own vehicle's height. So they aren't able to know if going under an overpass is actually safe to do, and assume it is, by visually guessing.Surprisingly, many drivers of tour buses don't know this critical information. Assigned at the last minute, they don't take the time to read this vital information, check out the safety equipment and familiarize themselves with other facts. So this can prove deadly, when they attempt to go under an overpass that is just an inch or two short.
With narrow roads still found everywhere in our nation, and older infrastructures as well, companies must be forced to ensure drivers are educated and required to follow all the regulations, to keep their passengers safe on trips. Because these types of accidents are totally preventable.
Windancersong-1494878
Very well written.
How difficult would it be to require that the bus company post 10-inch high letters in several places in front of the driver, clearly stating the vehicle height? It could be above the windshield, on the dash, on the sun visors, etc. Then it would not matter if the driver was assigned at the last minute and had not driven that vehicle previously. (If it were my bus, I would add 3 inches to the height on the signs, just the make sure.)
Of course, it would still be necessary for the driver to read the road signs, and stay awake.
GM Windancer, good job.
Universal background checks are needed.We can't have people that can't drive a bus.If it saves just one more life. The founding fathers never knew we would hace such a big bus.
Good morning IA.ScooterTrump.Thanks.
I know some places are now using modern technology to step in and help fix some of the human error problems causing overpass problems. Like using a light beam to gauge if a vehicle is too tall to safely pass under, triggering flashing warning lights, allowing the vehicle to exit before trying to go under. However, it still relies on people paying attention.Hopefully more places will use this instead of just signs.
So this is a brand new road with a brand new underpass????
Nope just a driver trying out his brand new brain.
This is an ancient road that runs along the river in a city that was settled before cars were invented.
There are many bridges along this road with very low clearance (maybe 10-11 feet), all clearly posted, with flashing neon lights. Still, every once in a while someone ignores the sign and tries it anyway, always opening the top of their vehicle like a can opener and snarling traffic forever. Usually it's a truck, not a bus load of kids. The driver is clearly at fault for ignoring the signs and endangering the kids.
Tractor trailers/semis strike overpasses on Soldiers Field Road/Storrow Drive almost on a weekly basis (I wish I was kidding). First time in a long while that a bus/coach has managed to do it.
There are a tremendous number of signs that warn of the height restrictions. Regardless, at least once or twice a month, something gets its roof peeled off. This is not a new road -- it's been there for decades. And this has been happening for decades.
Why isn't something made standard, either the buses or the overpasses. It's not rocket-science. If you are on a highway you shouldn't have to be concerned with the height of the overpasses. What if there was an emergency and they needed these routes for evacuation. To me, it's a no brainer. We are not talking about raising the overpasses or bridges 10 feet, probably just 10 inches in many cases.
Sue, many of these highways are from colonial times, 'upgraded' over the years, but built well before any standards besides 'don't let it fall down' were in place. It costs almost as much to raise it 10 inches as ten feet, and the dispuption caused is horrific. Many highways in the midwest and south were started in Eisenhower's time, to new national standards. Most in the northeast were at least started, approved or planned before then. I fault the bus company to a large degree. It is from the Philadelphia area, and the people SHOULD know all about the problems with low clearnce in older urban areas. Yet they sent an extra high bus into Boston. They are extremely fortunate no one was killed.
Once the overpass is built, it is easier to lower the road surface than to raise the overhead. Of course, that can lead to flooding in rainy weather.
Standardizing all the overpasses and bridges in this country would cost a fortune.
And you know how some folks respond when President Obama asks for funding for repairing our infrastructure. This is the kind of thing he is talking about.
All the people on this thread who say something should be done, do you support the need for extensive modernization of our road network and are you willing to pay for it?
lol Oh what a feeling it must be when you realise you just did that. its like ''DOH!!'' OOPS! Sorry! My bad.
This accident demonstrates how motor vehicles hurt far more people each year than firearms. According to NRA logic, this means that there should be no restrictions on guns.
Give it a rest... that argument doesn't work.
But if you limit the number of people that can ride in a bus to say, 10, a lot fewer people would be hurt every time this happens!
Imagine, ... that logic coming from a clown!?
and yet it still makes more sense then "Al's"
ban "hi cap" buses,they can hold 30 inside,limit them to 7 like gov Cuomo did with rounds
WTF? Do guns have to do with this story anyway dip schit?
You're an idiot.
Darryl bunchanumbers--your an idiot...
(See how stupid that comment looks without reference?)
Over the decades since the roadways were built vehicles have changed, the roadways have not changed with them. There is not such thing as standardized. They know and expect these type overpass strikes to happen routinely on many roadways but they continue to repair the same overpass in the same manner and at the same height every time. That is like asking the same question over and over and expecting a different answer every time. Yes, the drivers did not or could not read the sign. Yes high profile vehicles hit this same spot almost weekly but no, we can't figure out how to keep this from occurring. Stupidity seems to cross all boundaries. As long as the insurance companies keep paying why fix the problem?
Wow a bus accident and so that means let us all the talk about guns? Really?
yes really, what world are you living in
hey get a cluee, get a clue, the article is about a bus accident...
Diversion Article. Watch the other hand.
lol really !
One problem is that we keep paving roads. Each new layer reduces the overpass clearance. Hope the signs were up to date. You would think that most buses/coaches are of a standard height and that all overpasses should accommodate buses/coaches. But I could be wrong.
they dig down 2 feet just to repave the streets around here
a couple of feet more dirt removed - and the problem is solved
And all they have to do is move the Water lines, Sewer lines, Storm drain lines, Power lines, Fiber lines, Phone lines and Cable TV lines. No big deal except no body wants to pay for it. If the locals won't spring for a Over Height Detection system after all these years what makes you think they would pay to lower the road?
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to raise the over pass a couple of feet. I can understand why raising a railroad overpass would be impractical, but a street shouldn't be that difficult.
"Raising the overpass a couple of feet" would require construction of a new bridge. The one where the crash occurred is actually a bridge over the Charles River I think, at least if it is Western Avenue as noted in the article.
Most things like this are not simple.
Standard bridge height is sixteen feet. Commercial vehicles are required to be less than that (most are 14'6" or less). However, lower bridges DO exist... they are supposed to be posted, but the responsibility for obeying the postings falls to the driver. Most posted bridges are in the 11'6"-16' range, which is why most city buses are 11'6" or less. The problem usually comes up with these coach buses or freight trucks, which often go up to 14'6" or higher (I saw a bridge just yesterday that was marked at 15'0" with scrape marks on it).
bigger wheels&tires too
Being from the area, Soldiers Field Road (and Storrow Drive as the road becomes closer to downtown) is a winding road that follows the river at ground-level most of the time. But it ducks down under the major cross-streets to keep traffic flowing rather than get stopped at traffic lights. The *entire* length of the road is marked with signs at every entrance that it's for "CARS ONLY". Most have large hanging signs and chains that scrape the top of any overheight vehicle, some have electronic signs that start flashing if an overheight vehicle is detected. All U-Haul trucks based in the Boston area have a big sticker on the dashboard that essentially says "Do not bring this truck onto Storrow Drive, it's too tall" yet twice a week every fall and spring you get college kids moving in and out of dorms who get a truck stuck.
And it's not as simple as digging the lower road lower or raising the overpass. The lower road is most likely already below river level right next to the river, so I'm sure there are engineering issues in trying to make it any lower. And the upper roads that cross over Soldiers Field Road are city streets that cross bridges over the river that are close to 100 years old. Not something that can be raised easily. Either of those options would be insanely expensive to implement.
The more cost-effective option would be to figure out a way to better detect and stop or deter over-height vehicles in the area.
What a horrible preventable tragedy. When are we going to wise up and ban these high capacity buses.
Glad to hear no one has died. I hope it stays that way. Condolences to the victims, and their families.
This kind of thing only happens, because theres no national standards. This bus isn't over-height around where it came from, and was licensed. It just ran into a place that has decided max height, isn't high enough. Meaning this probably isn't the only bus touring around, that's going to one day find a bridge like this to.
Take it from a one time professional driver, low bridges are everywhere. And they are major road hazards.
They need to either tell everywhere in the country, max height for all vehicles is a height that will fit under the shortest bridge in the country. Or they have to do something about the low bridges. Signs aren't enough. After hours of driving, signs start to blur together. It happens to all drivers.
Shoulda Let some Air Outta Da Tires!
It has nothing whatsoever to do with the passenger capacity of the vehicle, Joe M. It's about the brain capacity of the driver.
As indicated by Rob/Mass, there are many, large signs on this roadway stating "NO TRUCK OR BUSES," and also signs at each underpass on both sides of the Charles River clearing indicating the height of the underpass. Soldiers Field Road, Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive on the Cambridge side of the river are intended for CARS ONLY and so marked. Don't blame the roadways, GPS or the vehicles; it's all about driver attention to detail. How bloody hard is that?
Thank you, Rob, as a fellow Soldiers Field, Storrow, Mem Drive traveller, I appreciate you thoughtful explanation.
Interesting that a bus named "Calvary Coach," didn't have any divine protection.
From the looks of that bus, it could have been a lot worse having the entire top collapsed down to the bottom of the windows like that. The windows must be high or the seats sit low. Or maybe everyone on the bus was short.
As Rob mentioned, there being a lot of "No Bus" signs, etc. Ya gotta wonder what the driver was thinking.... Maybe he/she doesn't speak Engrish.
Most of the passengers were children, I'm not sure of the ages. They were doing a tour of Harvard U. and Cambridge. They were from Bristol Twp, a little north of Philadelphia, PA. The bus company SHOULD have been familiar with the problem of low overpasses, as it is rampant in thier home area!
As the Mass Trooper who used to report traffic on WRKO used to say, there's "another professional driver who can't read".
Why is it assumed the driver is stupid because he missed a lousy sign. Have none of you ever missed a sign? I've traveled all over the country and in many many place where they have low overpasses they install overheight sensors which turn on flashing lights along the highway alerting vehicles someone is overheight. This usually alerts an erroneouss driver before a tragedy. Hell even McDonal;se installs low headroom pvc pipes across their driveup entrances.
Now lets revisit who is stupid here or who should have charges The state knows they have a very dangerous situation and they install a "sign".
You don't read either, do you rick? As several commenters above have explained (much better than the nbc writer 'gil'), this road is clearly marked "For Cars Only - No Trucks or Buses". It is marked in many places, not just 'a sign'. The signs are pictorial and verbal. At some of the entrance roads, there are chains that drag on the roof, or overheight detectors with alarms, flashing lights - everything except automatic barriers that pop up and slam the bus to a stop. There are several signs at each of the low overpasses, as well as the ones at entrance points.
Maybe they could install some overhead barriers before each obstruction that are designed to break away. They cause some damage to the vehicle, waking up the driver so they can stop before killing someone or wrecking the overpass. Then the officials can impound the vehicle, arrest the driver, and hold both until the damage to the warning barrier is completely paid for (as well as the room and board charge for jail time/court costs/emergency-responder-costs/towing-and-storage for the vehicle/etc.) The bus company could call taxis for the passengers to take them to their destination (cheaper than ambulances.)
Maybe state will make driving serous someday an make it law when people renew license they have to take road test. Think of all people lives could be saved if cdl drivers had to pass road test every 3 years. Passager cars should be every 4 years.Only when people take driving serous will these accidents stop
1
I've ridden a number of charter buses and all of them speed and take chances just to get somewhere faster.
Seems like a lot of charter bus accidents over the past couple of years.
The driver obviously wasn't from Harvard.
..... Uh, wait a minute.....
Where's Scotty when you need him. He could have beamed the whole bus to the other side.
Think I will file a 10 million Dollar lawsuit, I read about it and it bothered me. Where is atty Pinsky.